At least three residents from the mainly Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen were beaten and wounded by gunfire Saturday after they were forced out of a bus in a predominantly Sunni area of Tripoli, in the latest sectarian attack in the northern Lebanese city.
The men, all from the pro-Syrian regime neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, were commuting on a public bus at the time of the incident and their movements had been monitored by their assailants.
At Zahriyeh, a predominantly Sunni neighborhood, unidentified gunmen blocked the path of the bus and then forcefully dragged the Jabal Mohsen locals out on to the street, where they proceeded to beat and then later shoot at the men.
At least one of the locals hemorrhaged severely as a result of shots to his leg.
Residents, noticing the commotion, headed to the scene of the violence but none approached to help the terrified men, who were prevented from leaving the place.
The assailants let their captives go after the Lebanese Army moved in to cordon off the area.
The wounded and injured men were transferred to a local hospital for treatment.
The incident, the second in less than week, raised tension in the northern city which was recently the scene of fierce clashes between the rival neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, a predominantly Sunni neighborhood that backs the Syrian uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Earlier this week, three Alawites from Jabal Mohsen who were returning to Tripoli from Beirut were attacked with knives in al-Tall, a central neighborhood in the port city.
